


The Face in the Mirror is Not Yours

by lifeinskinnyjeans



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Twins, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-25
Updated: 2013-07-25
Packaged: 2017-12-21 08:04:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/897914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lifeinskinnyjeans/pseuds/lifeinskinnyjeans
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Shepard has a twin that no one knows about, James makes multiple sexual innuendoes and gets smacked in return, and everyone is very confused for her stay on the Normandy, especially Garrus.  Set during the beginning of ME3.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Face in the Mirror is Not Yours

Shepard hadn't said a word to anyone about having a twin, nor did she say anything about her coming to spend time on the Normandy. At least until they found somewhere aside from Earth to leave her. She had practically lived with Shepard while she was under house arrest on the Citadel - as Shepard had termed it - so there was no question in either of their minds that wherever they were going to end up, the pair of women were going to be together. At least they were going to try their damnedest to make that happen. So when Shepard and her twin scrambled aboard the Normandy before the ship was blown apart by a Reaper laser, no one really questioned it until _after_  things had settled down and everyone has gotten over leaving Anderson on Earth.

First was James. "You know, I might be just the slightest bit okay with leaving Anderson. Just as long as she's not his replacement. She's probably suited to better things than combat."

Shepard punched him in the shoulder. James frowned at her attempt to hurt him. He had been through worse. "She's my sister, Vega. My twin sister."

"So?"

Shepard thought for a moment, her arms crossed. Then an evil smirk turned a corner of her mouth up and she let herself lean back against the side of the parked Kodiak shuttle. "Every time you think of my sister in any sort of sexual context, just think of me in the same place."

James remained in front of Shepard, nonplussed at her comment. "That's not really going to help, Shepard."

She just rolled her eyes and pushed herself off the side of the Kodiak. "Whatever. The comment's still valid."

"Whatever you say, Lola," James called to her as she passed by Cortez. The smirk kept on her face until she got off the elevator. Then it was Samantha calling her over as Shepard was making her way to the bridge.

"I just wanted to say that I never would have guessed you had a sister, Commander. Especially a twin sister." She gave Shepard a nervous smile.

"Everyone says that."

"She's very pretty." Samantha's hands froze on the panels in front of her and she looked up at Shepard with terrified eyes. "Not that you aren't, Commander, but she is too, and -"

Shepard held up a hand to cut her off and gave her a warm smile. "It's okay, Traynor, I've been getting it a lot on the ship."

Samantha sighed and a nervous chuckle bubbled over her lips. She focused back on her panels for a moment before looking back over at Shepard as she began to walk away. "And Commander?" Shepard stopped and looked back at Samantha over her shoulder. "Do we have somewhere for your sister to stay on the ship?"

"We're getting something figured out. I'm not thinking she'll be with us long. I just need to find a safe place for her." Shepard let her face soften. "She and my mom are the only family I have left." Samantha just nodded as Shepard made her way to the bridge. The door opened and Joker was at the helm, the Normandy flying perfectly under his command. And Shepard knew that he was the only one who could make her fly as well as she did.

Joker looked over his shoulder as the door to the bridge opened behind him. "Hey, Commander," he greeted. Shepard stopped just behind the back of his chair. As he made to turn around, she stepped back. "So, you have a sister, huh?"

"Yes, Joker. She's poking around engineering."

"What's she doing down there?"

"I just said poking around. She's always been really curious, and it's not like she knows anything about the Normandy's systems. Besides, she's my sister. She wouldn't intentionally destroy anything."

"Whatever you say, Commander. Has she been up to the bridge?"

"Not yet. I couldn't pull her away from the core when I was taking her up through the decks."

"Well, she should be up here. After you left the shuttle bay, James radioed up to me and warned me about her."

Shepard rolled her eyes. "Of course he did."

Joker turned his chair back around and Shepard left the bridge. She stopped back at Samantha's post by the galaxy map and asked her to send her sister up to her cabin. She nodded and Shepard stepped into the elevator, taking it up one deck to the quiet of her cabin. When the door closed behind her, she flopped down onto her bed, facing the glass above her showing the stars as they rushed by. A few much-needed minutes of quiet passed until Shepard felt the bed depress next to her. "You're at it again, aren't you?" The high-pitched voice reaching her ears made Shepard smile before opening her eyes and sitting up, her sister sitting in front of her.

She nodded, her face solemn. "Yeah," she muttered after a handful of seconds of silence.

"Hey." Shepard raised an eyebrow at her twin. "What can stop you?"

"The Reapers."

"That's not what I mean, Jayne. I'm trying to cheer you up."

"And you know that's a lot harder now since I was just reinstated after six months house arrest on the Citadel. I don't know what's happened to anyone that was on the Normandy when I was captured."

"I know, Jayne. But a few of them are here still. Your pilot's still piloting the ship, and you still have the AI on the ship too."

"Joker wouldn't let me get rid of EDI no matter how hard I'd try," Shepard breathed with a light chuckle.

Jade smiled sadly. "You've told me tons about them both. They're never going to abandon this ship as long as you're the commander, Jayne. You have to know that."

"I know, Jade, but..."

Jade placed a hand over the one on her sister's knee. "Garrus. I know."

"I know he's alive, I just...don't know where he is. Or if he's okay."

"With as much as you told me about him last year, I would be surprised if he _wasn't_  okay. He took a rocket to the face and walked away with a scar. I think a Reaper would have a hard time killing him."

Shepard smiled at her sister and squeezed the hand still on hers on her knee. "Thanks, Jade."

"I know I don't stack up to your turian, but..."

Shepard laughed. "You're the next best thing, Jade."

Jade grinned as her sister stood up off the bed and arched her back in a stretch. "Good to know I'm second-best to your turian boyfriend."

"He's not my boyfriend. We didn't really talk about that."

"Because you were saving the galaxy, right." Jade nodded, standing up from her sister's bed. "Well, since this looks like the end of life as we know it - unless you figure something out - now might be a good a time as any to talk to him about you being his girlfriend."

Shepard rolled her eyes, but had a kind of smile on her face that only Jade had seen, and it was one that only Jade knew the meaning of. "Thanks, Jade."

The sisters left Shepard's cabin and took the elevator down, Shepard to the CIC and other other Shepard to the engineering deck. The commander had a hunch that deck was going to be her sister's new hideout, so she thought about making up one of the cargo holds for her.

On Mars, Kaidan and James found Liara, and Shepard smiled to herself when she remembered what he sister had said to her about everyone being alive and out there. Jade had said that her former squadmates were out there waiting for Shepard to pick them up, but they just didn't know it yet. That had made Shepard smile too. "Liara."

"Shepard!" The young asari's face lit up upon seeing her old commander. Shepard and Liara walked toward each other and embraced quickly.

"What are you doing here, Liara?"

"I was about to ask you the same question, actually."

"We're here to retrieve data on a Prothean device that could help us defeat the Reapers once and for all."

"You're not the only one looking for those blueprints, Shepard."

"Yeah, we ran into Cerberus on our way in here." Shepard sighed.

"And there are bound to be more of them," Kaidan cut in.

"Kaidan's right. We should keep moving," Liara said.

Shepard drew her sniper rifle from the holster on her back and turned around. "You know where these blueprints are?"

"In the Prothean Archives across the tramway. Cerberus will have it blocked off most likely, but we'll find another way across if need be."

"Got it."

+++

"Commander, you have the blueprints?"

"Yes, Admiral, Liara found them on Mars and has been analyzing them."

"And has she found anything interesting?"

Shepard turned as Liara entered the comm room and watched her walk up beside her. "I have the plans here, Admiral," she said. She pulled up the scans of the blueprints on her omni-tool. "They seem to be for some sort of Prothean device."

"Capable of destroying the Reapers?"

Liara hesitated, glancing away from the projected version of the admiral and down at the holographic plans projected by her omni-tool. "We...don't know, sir." The confidence returned to her voice as she began to speak again. "The Protheans never actually finished the device. Something stopped them from doing so."

"Probably the Reapers," Hackett remarked.

"It would make the most sense. Also, there's a part missing."

"And what is that?"

"The plans here refer to it only as the Catalyst."

"Forward me the plans and my team will make their own analysis. We'll see what we else we can learn about this device."

"Yes, Admiral." Liara nodded, collapsed the plans for the device on her omni-tool, and walked out of the room.

"In the meantime, Commander, it's up to you to figure out what the next step is," Hackett said, turning his attention to her once Liara had left the room.

"Yes, sir. The plan is to go to the Citadel and get the Council to provide their fullest support," Shepard answered with a curt nod.

"A wise step. Keep me posted. Hackett out." The comm went silent and Shepard leaned against the comm panel for a few moments. The Council hadn't been helpful in her investigation of Saren three years ago, and even with a new Council after the Battle of the Citadel in the same year, Shepard didn't expect any more help than she received three years ago. Either way, the Council was her best bet to get support for Earth before it got any worse, though Shepard couldn't see how much worse it could get.

She made her way to the bridge to inform Joker of their new destination, and instead found her sister laughing with the helmsman. Jade heard Shepard enter and gave her a wide grin when she entered. "Jayne, oh my God, where has this one been all my life?"

Shepard returned the grin. "I told you you would like him."

"You underestimated. I freaking love this guy."

Joker laughed. "How come you never told me you had a sister?"

"Because you'd never shut up about her."

"And that's a bad thing?" Jade put in.

"When I have to save the galaxy, it gets old really quickly," Shepard said.

"I am totally prepared to save the galaxy if it means your sister gets to stay up here!" Joker exclaimed.

"Jayne said she would make up one of the cargo holds on the engineering deck," Jade protested.

"Jayne? Oh, right, the commander. I just forget that you have a first name sometimes, Commander."

"Thanks, Joker. I'm just glad to see you and Jade are getting along."

"Oh, we're getting along..." He glanced over at Shepard from his sideways chair and wiggled his eyebrows.

"Can it, Joker. She's not worth the shattered pelvis."

"What?" Jade hissed.

Shepard laughed. "Thanks, Commander, great segue." Joker rolled his eyes, sighed, and turned his chair to face the Normandy's panels. "Now was there something you needed?"

"Chart a course to the Citadel, Joker. I'm going to try and get the Council's help on this."

"Good luck with that, Commander. They weren't much help last time."

Shepard sighed as she turned to walk back into the CIC. "Believe me, I of all people know this, Joker."

+++

"Councilors -"

The asari councilor held up her hand. "I'm sorry, Commander, but our own worlds take priority. We cannot provide Earth with the support it needs until our own worlds are safe."

Shepard stood on the platform with clenched fists and huffed. She merely nodded because she didn't trust herself to say anything that wouldn't put her in any further disfavor with the Council. "Meet me in my office, Commander," Udina called down. Shepard nodded at him and turned to walk to his office.

When there, Shepard was about ready to explode at Udina, but she noticed his attention was not on her. She turned around to the door of his office and saw the turian councilor walking in. "Councilor," Shepard greeted, trying her best to hide the fury on her face.

"Commander Shepard." The turian councilor inclined his head in greeting.

"Is there something you wanted to speak with me about, Councilor?" Shepard tried to keep her voice civil and level.

"Actually, yes." The turian clasped his hands behind his back. "I do believe Earth needs all the support they need, but with my world under direct attack from the Reapers, the turians can just not give Earth the support it needs."

"Are you looking for my help?"

"We need our primarch. He can help us rally the troops your planet needs. But word hasn't surfaced that he was able to get off Palaven before the Reapers attacked. Your ship is the only one capable of going in, finding him, and pulling him out before the Reapers even know you're there. If you can do this, you will have the turians' support for Earth."

Shepard thought for a moment. "It seems I don't really have much of a choice. I'll set off for Palaven at once, Councilor."

"Thank you, Commander." The turian councilor nodded and turned to leave the room. When the door closed behind him, Shepard sighed and pressed her thumb and forefinger to the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath.

"This is just the beginning, isn't it?"

"Yes," Udina answered from behind her.

Shepard turned to face Udina and opened her eyes, her arms at her side. "No offense, Udina, but the Council has never been much help."

"I remember, Shepard, I was there with you three years ago when you were looking into Saren."

"I just hope the other councilors come around and provide their support before any of this gets any worse."

"I wouldn't count on it, Shepard."

"Yeah," Shepard mumbled, and walked out of Udina's office and into the elevator, taking it up to the Normandy's docking bay. The airlock spit her out right by the bridge, and half the time the door opened even if Shepard wasn't going in to talk to Joker. She was this time, and of course the door didn't open automatically. Shepard stepped onto the bridge, and Jade was talking with Joker again.

They both saw Shepard walk in and looked at it, residual smiles on their faces. "What's our destination, Commander?"

"Menae, Palaven's largest moon."

Jade stepped back as her sister assumed the place she had just been standing and Joker turned his chair to reach the Normandy's panels. "What are we going there for?" Joker asked as he began to start up the ship.

"The turian councilor has told me he would like to help Earth, but he and the rest of the turians need their primarch to make the big decisions," Shepard explained.

"So we've been backed into a corner about getting support from the turians," Joker added.

"Pretty much, but I can't afford to argue. There's too much at stake."

Jade stepped back up and placed a light hand on her sister's shoulder. Shepard's head turned at the touch and gave her sister a sad smile. "You can do it, Jayne. You need to have better faith in yourself."

"Jade's right, though," Joker said, pulling the Normandy out of the Citadel dock.

Shepard just shrugged before turning and walking off the bridge. Jade quietly followed. "Where are you going?" she asked quietly.

Shepard was silent for a moment as she walked toward the elevator, thinking about just spending the time between the Citadel and Palaven in the quiet of her cabin. Samantha called her over as she passed and said, "You have an unread message at your private terminal, Commander."

"Thanks, Traynor," Shepard said dismissively. She continued walking into the elevator and Jade followed her. "I need to talk to you, Jade."

"About me staying on the ship."

Shepard sighed and resisted the urge to press her fingers to the bridge of her nose as they stepped out of the elevator and into Shepard's cabin. "Yes," she replied shortly. She plopped down in the chair in front of the desk and turned it around to face Jade, who had taken to leaning against the opposite wall in the absence of another chair.

"I thought you were okay with me in one of the cargo holds on the engineering deck."

"And you assumed that was permanent?"

"Well excuse me." Jade crossed her arms.

"Don't be like that, Jade."

"Are you just gonna drop me off somewhere and hope nothing happens to me?"

"You know that's not going to happen."

"Then what is, Jayne?"

Shepard sighed and closed her eyes for a moment. "The Citadel is using one of their docking bays as emergency civilian housing."

"Weren't we just at the Citadel?" Shepard nodded. "So why am I still on the ship?"

"You're my sister, Jade, I know you. With how much I've told you about my...adventures...over the past few years, I figured you'd want to meet some of the people I've talked about. We may very well run into Garrus on Palaven's moon. If he's not fighting the war, he's dead, if I know him as well as I think I do."

"So are you going to make a special trip to drop me off at the Citadel after I meet him or something?" Jade's voice had taken on a miffed quality on top of the original incredulous one, which Jayne found slightly amusing.

"No, Jade, it's not like I'm looking to get rid of you. The next time we dock at the Citadel, you'll stay there when the Normandy leaves." Jade began to protest, but Shepard held up her hand to stop her. Sometimes Jade took on a childish air that Shepard wasn't fond of for being the age she was. "It's the safest place I know of, Jade. I haven't heard a word about or from Mom, and I doubt she'd let you stay with her while she goes into battle anyway, so she's out of the question. Earth is under attack obviously, and I wasn't putting you at the greatest risk of death by leaving you there, and I'm not putting you back there just so I can worry about if you're alive or not. On the Citadel, I know you'll be safe. On the Citadel, I won't have to worry about if you're alive unless the Citadel itself falls under attack. And that's unlikely to happen in any event."

"Is it?" Jade asked, half-expecting to get cut off.

"Yes," Shepard answered. "They may be machines, but they're smart, and the Reapers wouldn't go attacking the Citadel this early in the fight."

There were a few moments of uncomfortable silence between the sisters. Then Jade sighed loudly, eliciting a solemn smile from Shepard. Her sister always had a knack for the dramatic. "Fine," Jade murmured. "Drop me off at the Citadel."

"Don't act all huffy like that, Jade, you know it's not going to help you."

"Yeah, but..." Jade uncrossed her arms and stood off the wall for a moment before leaning back against it and crossing her arms again. "Still."

Shepard snorted. Her sister was certainly a piece of work. "You and Mom are the only family I have left."

Jade dropped her arms and knitted her eyebrows. "Jayne, don't."

"It's true."

"What about everyone on the Normandy?"

"They don't share DNA with me. You do. While I haven't taken the deaths of my squadmates lightly, being responsible for your death..." Shepard looked away from her sister's concerned face. "I would never forgive myself." She snorted again, this time without humor, and looked back up at her sister with a small, sad smirk. "And I don't think Mom would either."

That got a small, sad smirk in return, along with Jade pushing off the wall and walking toward her sister with dropped arms. Shepard stood out of her chair and accepted the tight hug her sister was walking forward to give her. "Just don't die again, okay?" Jade murmured. "It was hard enough hearing you were gone the first time, I couldn't handle it again."

Shepard pulled away from her sister and looked in her sad green eyes. "Don't worry, I don't plan on dying again. There's too much at stake. For both you and I and the rest of the galaxy."

Jade gave a wide but solemn smile. "Good."

"Five minutes from the relay, Commander." Joker's voice was heard over the comm.

"Gotta go," Shepard said, releasing her grasp on her sister. "You can stay up here or go back down to the engineering decks. You can do whatever, really, just try not to get in anyone's way, yeah?"

"I think I'll stay up here for a while. Have you fed the fish lately?"

Shepard smiled as she walked to the door of her cabin. "No, but it would be awesome if you could do that."

Jade returned the smile. "Yeah." She glanced at the fish swimming lazily in the wall tank. "Now go get suited up! You have a primarch to rescue." Shepard smiled at her sister again before leaving her cabin.

Palaven was swarmed by Reapers. Cortez took Shepard, James, and Liara down onto the surface and wished them luck as always. Menae was swarmed with Reaper forces. There were frequent barricades of turian soldiers shooting down the husks that spewed from the meteors raining down on the moon. Shepard, James, and Liara themselves faced wave upon wave of husks on their way to the command camp further in on the surface.

More husks were cleared out of the command camp upon Shepard's arrival. She walked up to an official looking turian and said, "Are you the general?"

The turian took his hands away from the panels in front of him and gave Shepard a once-over before sticking out his hand. "General Corinthus. You must be Commander Shepard."

"That I am. We're looking for Primarch Fedorian. We're here to take him off-world for a war summit."

The general hesitated a second before speaking. "Well you'll have a bit of a hard time. The primarch's ship never made it off Palaven."

"The turian line of command is very straightforward," Liara said, stepping forward and struggling to be heard over the crashing meteors of Reaper forces and constant gunfire.

"Who's the next primarch?" Shepard yelled.

"Palaven Command would know," Corinthus answered, his fingers back on the panels in front of him. "Unfortunately, our comm tower is out, so we can't contact them to find out."

"We'll get your comm tower operational," Shepard said with a nod, then beckoned Liara and James to follow her to the edge of the barricade.

"There! I see it! The comm tower is over there, over that ridge!" Liara yelled as the three walked past the barricade.

"Good luck out there," a turian soldier said as they passed him. Shepard just nodded at him as they left. The three ascended a small hill to another pair of turian soldiers wielding assault rifles. "We were overwhelmed by husks at the tower!" one of them yelled, small eyes welded to the field in front of him.

Just then, a wave of husks climbed over the sides of the cliff face. "Husks!" the other soldier yelled as his assault rifle exploded with the loud sound of rapid fire. Shepard, Liara, and James added their bullets to the melee and the husks fell easy. The three jogged up to the comm tower, keeping their eyes open for ambushes until they reached the inoperational object.

Shepard pushed a few buttons on the panel in front of her and then turned back to James and Liara. "The tower can't be repaired from here, I need someone to stay here and fix it manually." Both Liara and James watched Shepard expectantly. She looked between her squadmates for a moment and then focused her gaze on Liara. "Liara, you're up!"

"Yes, Commander!" The asari walked around the back of the tower while James and Shepard guarded the front, assault rifles and pistols raised respectively.

"Let's kick some Reaper ass!" James yelled as the first of the husks came over the side of the hill.

Shepard smiled before wielding her pistol and shooting a husk twice in the chest. Watching it fall, she yelled to James, "Keep an eye on your right flank! They're coming up over the hill! You're an easy target!"

"It's like you think I've never done this before!"

"You've fought Reapers before?"

There was a nasty splatter as James shot a husk point blank in the head after knocking it back with the butt of the rifle. "No, ma'am, but I've been through worse!"

"Sounds like a story for another time!"

"Oh, I've got lots of stories for you, Commander. Including the time with your sister!"

"Bullshit, James!"

He only laughed as another wave of husks came up the side of the hill. "Comm tower is operational!" Liara yelled as she drew her pistol and came up behind Shepard. With more husks on her six and on James, she holstered her pistol, crouched down behind a rock, and drew her sniper rifle. She began picking off husks around James, and enjoyed both the kickback of the rifle and James' swearing at Shepard stealing his kills.

When the field was littered with the corpses of the cybernetic human shells, Shepard took a deep breath and switched her sniper rifle for the pistol at her hip. "Commander, the comm tower is operational. I need you to return to the camp." Corinthus' voice came over the comm.

"Roger that, General." Shepard nodded to Liara and James as the three jumped down the small hill and back into the barricade surrounding the camp. The general was still at his position at the panels.

"Thank you for getting that comm tower operational, Commander. Like your partner said, the chain of command is usually simple, but with so many dead or MIA, we don't know who the new primarch is going to be."

A familiar voice reached Shepard's ears. "Don't worry, Shepard, we'll find you the primarch."

Shepard looked up to see the face of the turian she had missed for the past six months. She couldn't help the grin that spread across her face and had to restrain herself from throwing her pistol down and running at him. "Garrus."

The general looked up at Garrus and began to stutter a greeting. "Vakarian, sir, I...I didn't see you come up." The typical dual-toned turian voice was edged with nervousness.

"At ease, General."

Garrus stepped forward up to Shepard and held out his hand. Shepard shook it and tried to ignore the awkwardness she was sure they both felt. "It's good to see you, Garrus. I thought you'd be on Palaven."

"If we lose this moon, we lose Palaven, and I'm the closest damn thing to an expert on the Reapers, so...I'm advising," Garrus explained.

Shepard glanced back at James. "James, this is Garrus Vakarian." James stepped up next to Shepard and shook Garrus' extended hand. "He helped me fight the Collectors, and is a hell of a soldier."

Garrus nodded politely. "Lieutenant." He then looked at Liara. "Good to see you too, Liara."

Liara stepped forth and smiled. "It's good to see you in one piece, Garrus."

"The general filled me in. We know who we're after."

The general spoke up behind them. "I just got the word from Palaven Command. The new primarch is General Adrien Victus."

"Victus? The name's crossed my desk," Liara said, the worry in her voice unmasked.

"You know him, Garrus?" James asked casually.

"I was fighting alongside him this morning," Garrus answered.

"Commander? Something's up with the Normandy! The systems are powering up and shutting down without any input!" Joker's frantic voice yelled over Shepard's comm.

"I'll go back to the Normandy to check it out," Liara offered.

Shepard nodded and Liara got on her radio and began to walk away from the group. "You coming, Garrus?"

"Are you kidding? I'm right behind you!"

+++

Shepard sighed as the vid comm disconnected on the Normandy. She walked out into the war room and passed the new primarch of Palaven, Adrien Victus. She would talk to him later; right now, she wanted to find her sister and tell her that Garrus was aboard the Normandy.

As usual, Jade was down in engineering, staring in at the enormous drive core. As long as she was staying out trouble and everyone's way, Shepard was fine with whatever her sister was doing on the ship. "Jade."

Shepard's sister looked over her shoulder and smiled. "You made it back."

"Of course I did. And I found someone you'd like to meet." Shepard couldn't hide the grin spreading across her face.

Jade returned her grin and playfully slapped her arm as they walked off the main engineering deck. "I told you you'd find him."

Shepard rolled her eyes but remained smiling as they stepped into the elevator. When it arrived at the deck above them, Shepard pushed her sister out of the elevator. "Check the main battery, he's probably there calibrating something."

"Then what?"

"Come up to my cabin and tell me what you think of him before I go down and talk to him myself." Jade merely winked at her sister and Shepard rolled her eyes as the elevator door closed and it rose to her cabin.

Jade hadn't spent much time on the crew deck, save for the few minutes Jayne showed her around the ship when she first arrived, but she knew the main battery was none of the rooms across from the elevator, the one to her right when she turned around was the med bay, and the one to her left was Liara's office, which left the door directly in front of her. She walked up to the door, which opened when she came in range like an automatic door back on Earth, and poked her head in. Seeing no one in the immediate area, she called out, "Uhm, Garrus?"

"Over here," the turian called from the right side of the room.

Jade slowly stepped into the room and saw the turian working on the right side of the room, presumably on some part of the ship. "Hi," she said simply. _What the hell was that? You don't even know him. But Jayne speaks highly of him and she wants you to meet him, so try not to act like a total ass._

Garrus turned around and was immediately confused. "Shepard? You didn't look like this on Menae. I guess even time changes war-hardened veterans who've been resurrected by Cerberus." Jade just stood in front of the turian with her mouth open for a few moments. "Shepard?" Garrus asked again, taking a step closer.

Jade took a step back. "Uhm...Yeah, this - this was probably going to happen. I'll be right back." Jade took a few steps backwards, knocked her lower back into the panels at the front of the room, then turned around and resisted the urge to run from the room. She walked briskly to the elevator and took it up to her sister's cabin. _Shit._

"Uhm, Jayne?"

"What did you do?" her sister responded. Her voice came from the bed.

"It was more of what didn't I do..."

Shepard sat up and stared at her sister disapprovingly. "Were you an awkward little shit?"

"Fuck you, Jayne."

Shepard smirked and stood up from the bed. "Did you introduce yourself at least?" Jade didn't answer. Shepard rolled her eyes as she walked toward her sister and placed her hands on her shoulders. "You have a problem." Shepard took the few steps to her cabin door, then looked over her shoulder at her sister. "Well come on, you have a turian to meet." Jade just let out an over-dramatic groan as she jogged after her sister who was waiting in the elevator.

Jade was still sulking when she and Shepard arrived down on the crew deck. Shepard punched Jade's shoulder. "Stop sulking. It's not attractive." Jade just shot her sister a glare as the door to the main battery opened in front of them.

Garrus looked up as the door opened on his left. He looked up, expecting to see the Shepard look-alike that had entered a few minutes before. Instead, he saw both the look-alike and Shepard herself. His mandibles flicked as he smiled. "Shepard," he called.

She peered around the corners and saw him working on the cannon on the right. She grinned when she saw him and beckoned to her look-alike to follow. "Let's try this again." Shepard pointed to the look-alike standing next to her, rocking on her heels and obviously nervous. "Garrus, this is my twin sister, Jade. Jade, this is Garrus Vakarian. He helped me fight the Collectors. One hell of a soldier."

Garrus held out his hand, and Jade looked at it for a moment as if unsure how to shake hands with a turian. "It's no different from a handshake with a human," he said.

Seemingly reassured, Jade stuck her hand out and took Garrus'. He had a firm handshake, which made her visibly relax as she gripped his hand a little tighter and gave it a firm shake in return. Garrus' mandibles flicked again as he looked to Shepard. "You never said a word about having a sister." His bright blue eyes glanced over at her. "Let alone a twin sister."

"It's been a surprise to everyone," Shepard replied with a smirk. Jade tugged on Shepard's sleeve. "What?" She whispered something in Shepard's ear. "You're such a twelve-year-old." Shepard rolled her eyes. "Go bother James down in the cargo hold. I'm sure you'll have a great time getting to know him." Both Garrus and Shepard couldn't hold back sniggers as Jade skittered from the main battery. When the door closed behind her, Shepard looked back at Garrus. "She's really a great kid, although I can't really say she's a kid anymore because she's the same age as me. I've always called her a kid though. I was born first."

Garrus' mandibles flicked yet again as he watched his Shepard in front of him. "We didn't really get a chance to talk back on Menae," he said casually, hoping to spark a pleasant conversation.

"No, we didn't. It's really good to see you again, Garrus." Shepard's voice now took on a softer quality, one that Garrus hadn't heard since before they went up against the Collectors. A small smile as soft as her voice appeared on her face as well, one that made Garrus hold himself back from placing a taloned hand under.

"And you as well, Shepard." Garrus' voice had become quiet as well. He was less focused on the cannon next to him and more focused on the woman whom he had always been there for. The woman whose back he always had, the one whose six he always had his eyes on.

Shepard looked down at the floor. "I have to admit, I knew we were either going to find you on that moon or you were going to be dead." She looked back up at the turian. "I know you too well to be standing on the sidelines of a fight like this."

A small smile crossed Garrus' face. "And you were right. I'm the closest thing the military has to a Reaper expert, so I would've rather been dead if I wasn't fighting."

Shepard gave him a warm smile. "I saw generals saluting you, Garrus, you must be pretty high up the chain of command."

The turian shrugged, something he had seen countless human members of the crew do. "I followed your example, Shepard. Yell loud enough for long enough and someone's bound to hear you."

Shepard grinned. "Glad I left a lasting impression."

Garrus took a step closer to Shepard and watched her raise her head to keep a steady gaze on him. "That wasn't the only impression you left." He placed a hand on her waist.

She smiled a smile that Garrus couldn't pinpoint the meaning of. She didn't back away, though, so Garrus had to assume it was a good smile. "The only reason I left Earth is because I knew you were still out there."

Garrus smiled briefly and then lowered his voice. "So what happens next? The vids didn't detail -"

Shepard cut him off by stepping up on tiptoe and planting a kiss on his scarred cheek. "That's what happens next," she murmured as she lowered herself back onto her heels.

Garrus' mandibles flicked as he smirked. "I figured that would happen."

Shepard gave him another warm smile and leaned against his breastplate, one hand next to her face and the other around his back. Garrus linked both his arms around her waist in return and laid his chin on the top of her head. The cannon could wait. Right now he had Shepard with him, his Shepard, and they both knew it was very possible that they could lose each other in this fight, so the best moments were the ones that happened in the interim. The ones they could catch here or in her cabin, in between missions. And while both Shepard and Garrus could spend ages thinking about those moments, they were both too focused on the here and now to really care what was going on around them.


End file.
